Correfoc de Primavera (Spring firecrackers)

Well, there really is no word in English for correfoc because it's something very particular to Catalunya.  The kids love watching the people parade in the streets setting off correfoc during local festivals.  Saturday May 16th was the Correfoc de Primavera en Esplugues.  This is a great local celebration for no specific reason, just an opportunity to stay up late, get sprayed with millions of sparks and listen to loud music.

Here are a couple of pictures that we took of the correfoc infantil (for kids) and then a couple of videos of the correfoc adulto (much more intense)!  In the last video, we are standing in what we consider a safe distance, about 15 metres away from the main action, but you will see that really no one is spared from receiving a shower of sparks on their heads.

International Day at ASB

Saturday May 16th was International Day at the kids' school.  This is an annual event and the biggest event the school organizes for the community.  Last year we were 3 moms representing Japan: Hideyo, Yuko and me.  It was a great experience, so Hideyo, Yuko and I were excited to do it again this year.  This year, 4 more Japanese moms signed up to help, Miho, Yoko, Makiko and Masumi so we were 7 moms in all!  We decided to make curry and rice again this year, and Yuko (who is now vegan) provided 12 bags of edamame and made a huge chocolate tofu cake.  I also made dorayaki, which I discovered is very easy to make.   It was my idea for everyone to wear Hello Kitty Barcelona t-shirts, I thought that it would be kind of cute and I don't own any Japanese clothes.

With so many other moms participating Hideyo and I didn't have to make so much food ourselves and this year I got the chance to leave the Japan table and try food from all the other countries.  International Day was a huge success, over 500 people attended.  I think that everyone, especially the kids had a great time.  Ciara was even on the stage dancing.  There was some pretty interesting entertainment, including a scantily clad Brazilian dancer.

Masumi, me and Makiko

Makiko, Hideyo, Miho, and Yuko in front.

The Japan Table - three kinds of curry, edamame, desserts and origami

Cole is sitting on Aryan with Manju and Anu from the India Table

These are my dorayaki, I have to make them with kidney beans but tastes pretty much the same.

Ciara not being shy about dancing on a stage in front of a large crowd

Ciara and Maria Belen with the colourful Brazilian dancer

A Day in Andorra

Bob and I are big fans of hot springs. After we discovered the natural hot spring in Alhama de Granada, I have been eager to find other hot springs in our region.   I spoke to my next door neighbour, and she told me that there is a huge thermal water complex in Andorra called Caldea.   With my parents staying for a week after we got back from Paris, I figured it would be a great time to make a visit to Andorra.

I checked out the Caldea website and I was sold.  It looked amazing!  It is the largest thermal centre in the world.  Our timing was perfect too.  During the month of March there was a promotion: with each adult pass, one child could enter for free during the month of April.  Caldea is not cheap, each adult entry (3h) is €34,50 and a child entry is €25.  Since we would be 4 adults and 4 children, we saved €100. 

After doing a little research on other things to do in Andorra, I found Naturlandia, which is a nature park in the mountains with lots a great kids activities and the largest alpine coaster in the world.  I also noticed that children under the age of 14, could get in free with a Super3 card.  Super3 is a local kids' TV channel and they have a kids club.  With your free membership you can enjoy discounts or free admission to different events, attractions and activities all over Catalunya.  So I quickly sent in the Super3 card application for each of my kids.  We were very fortunate that their cards arrived the day before we were planning on going to Andorra, Tuesday April 14th.   During low season adults are €22 each and kids are €15 each, which is actually not that expensive given the amount of activities they offer, but we saved €60 with our Super3 cards. 

It took us about 3 hours to get to Andorra, because of the inevitable traffic getting out of Barcelona.  First we went to Caldea.  It is an incredible facility.  There are 3 floors inside as well as a large pool outside.  I like the fact that the children had access to every part of the centre as usally children are not allowed into spas.  There are lots of different pools, saunas, steam rooms, jacuzzis and relaxing areas.  Our only complaint was that the water temperature was pretty much the same in all the pools.  My parents were hoping that at least one pool would be really hot, but they were all around 34 degrees.  Still, the kids had a blast exploring the different pools and because it wasn´t busy, they didn´t annoy too many people in the process.

After Caldea, we left my parents in the town of Les Escaldes to do some shopping and the rest of us headed off to Naturlandia which was about 30minutes away.   It was a gorgeous day to be up in the mountains.  As it was low season, so there were not very many people there.  The kids barely had to wait to do anything, even the Tobotronic (alpine coaster).  I think that one ride on the Tobotronic is worth the price of admission, it was so much fun.  But besides the Tobotronic, there were bouncy castles and  trampolines, we did archery, rode pedal cars, drove little jeeps,  went on an Airtrekk (the longest skytrail in Europe) and a giant zipline.  Pretty fun day!

Relaxing in Caldea

The main pool

Mom really liked the placemats from the restaurant.  It was good food and huge servings.

Doing Archery at Naturlandia

Sitting beside the Tobotronic 

Hangin with the Naturlandia mascots